PARIS - BMW AG sold more cars in the third quarter than it had expected, said CEO Norbert Reithofer.

"August turned out to be stronger than we had anticipated and it looks as if that trend continued in September," Reithofer told reporters at the Paris auto show on Friday.

According to BMW, its group sales rose 16 percent in the month of September, and it posted double-digit percentage unit sales growth in the first nine months of this year.

"If you just look at volumes, the third quarter was very good and above our expectations," Reithofer said.

He said he had not yet seen earnings figures for the period.

He also said that BMW's upcoming front-wheel drive architecture should have significant economies of scale, with volumes that could reach 700,000 to 1 million units per year.

"There will also be a front-wheel drive BMW model using this architecture, and this model does not yet exist in our current BMW brand product range," he said.

Reithofer also said he did not plan to step in rival Mercedes' footsteps by equipping BMW's top-of-the-line 7-series model with a four-cylinder engine, usually reserved for compact cars.

"Our 7-series customers are very much accustomed to our in-line six-cylinder engine, so we are not considering at the moment any four-cylinder engines for the 7 series."